SOCCER: MILITO, MOTTA EYE CATANIA

SOCCER: MILITO, MOTTA EYE CATANIA

(ANSA) - Rome, October 22 - Diego Milito and Thiago Motta are expected to be back for Inter Milan against Catania this weekend as the Serie A leaders seek to reassert their domestic dominance after an uncertain Champions League draw against Dynamo Kiev.

The recently injured South American duo went through their paces at Thursday training and coach Jose' Mourinho said they might play a part on Saturday night.

The return of top scorer Milito against the 15th-placed Sicilians on Saturday night would be particularly welcome as observers have taken the midweek display against Shevchenko and Co as evidence that last week's 5-0 win at 6th-placed Genoa might have been a fluke.

But Chairman Massimo Moratti goes into the game confident that the champs can keep their two-point lead over stuttering Sampdoria.

''I'm neither angry nor concerned,'' Moratti said after the 2-2 draw against Dynamo in which Mourinho resorted to the unusual expedient of bringing on Marco Materazzi as hoped-for supersub up front.

Injury-prone Motta would anchor a midfield that looked unsettled against the Ukrainians.

Sampdoria are hoping their match against 18th-placed Bologna earlier Saturday will put their surprise title bid back on track.

It will be new Bologna coach Franco Colomba's first match in charge.

Juventus and Fiorentina, joint third on 15 points, four behind Inter, have Sunday afternoon challenges that look fairly easy on paper but they appear to be going into them in different spirits.

Juve will be looking to put a scrappy 1-0 win over Maccabi Haifa behind them at 19th-placed Siena while Fiorentina have been charged up by a goal-rich defeat of Debrecen and are aiming for more from Gilardino, Jovetic and Mutu against joint-13th-placed Napoli.

Mutu appears to have regained top form after Swiss courts let him off a record fine but coach Cesare Prandelli is not sure all three stars can be fielded at the same time.

''Mutu and Jovetic playing alongside Gilardino would be a dream but I don't think we're ready yet,'' he said.

Serie A's other new coach, a record fifth arrival in eight games, Serse Cosmi, takes charge of his first game for Livorno at joint-9th Roma.

The Sunday night game sees joint-7th AC Milan, fired up by their 3-2 win at Real Madrid, travelling to joint-9th Chievo.

A win could put Leonardo's men back in the European qualification zone.